It was the beginning of April and ever since Lily and James were sent into hiding five months earlier, Sirius and Mia had only managed to lay eyes on them twice: once when they had spent Christmas night together and other in the beginning of February. Today, they would be paying their best friends another visit.

Things hadn’t gotten any better as the time passed. If only, now the Death Eaters were looking all around for the Potters and attacking even more often. Mia knew they were trying to tail her and Sirius so they would lead them to their friend’s hiding place. That was the reason why they visited them so rarely – even though it was unlike that the Death Eaters would be able to break the fidelius charm, they could never be too careful.

So, after meeting Dumbledore in Hogwarts, sneaking to Hogsmeade through the Shrieking Shack and apparating to Godric’s Hallow, Mia and Sirius found themselves in Lily and James’s place.

“He is growing like a weed!” Mia said as she held Harry, who was distractedly chewing his fist. “What do you feed him? Engorging potion?”

Lily chuckled. “Children tend to grow fast at that age,” she told her best friend from the sofa.

Mia smiled and sat by her best friend’s side, settling Harry on her lap. “Merlin, I hate not being able to see you all more often… I feel like a lousy godmother.”

“Don’t be silly, Mia,” Lily told her. “If you were such a lousy godmother, Harry wouldn’t remember you after not seeing you for two months. He was all smiles when he saw you and Sirius coming through the front door.”

She sighed and ruffled her godson’s messy black hair, causing him to giggle. “Still…”

“Still, nothing,” the redhead said, shaking her head. “Now, let’s change the subject. How was yours and Sirius’s birthday this year? You went to Paris, didn’t you?”

Mia nodded with a wide grin before putting Harry on the floor so he could crawl back to his toys – it didn’t seem right talking about hers and Sirius’s ‘adventure’ in Paris with her poor innocent godson on her lap. “It was… bloody fantastic.”

“Bloody fantastic as in ‘we didn’t even leave the room’?” Lily asked her playfully.

She blushed. “We did leave the room… but just so we could pay Elizabeth a visit – she would murder us if she heard we had been to Paris and didn’t even pay her a visit.”

“And the rest of the weekend was spent in the Hotel Room living of room service,” Lily finished for her. “You two are just so dumb. Spending a whole weekend in Paris and staying in the hotel almost the whole time. What a waste!”

“It definitely didn’t seem like a waste to me,” Mia mumbled. “Oh, and by the way, Sirius loved that thing that James sent to our apartment. He might as well have sent him a bomb,” she told her best friend in a not-so-happy tone.

“Yeah,” she said. “And I am warning you that if Sirius gets himself killed riding that thing, James won’t stay alive much longer than him, so you’d better pray.”

Lily rolled her eyes, shaking his head. “I told him you wouldn’t be happy about it.”

---

“And the Cannons score… wait, looks like their seeker caught the snitch too soon. The points are not valid and, despite having caught the snitch, the Chudley Cannons lose another game.”

“Dumb luck,” James moaned, hearing the broadcast in the house’s dinning room. “I actually thought they might beat Puddlemore United this time. This game kind of reminds me of that one in fifth year when you got your skull cracked. Your brother caught the snitch but Slytherin lost anyway.”

Sirius groaned. “Don’t remind me. Just thinking of the headache I got after makes me shiver,” he said. Actually, just thinking of Regulus, who was missing for months, made him shiver. He had done all he could to save his brother but hadn’t succeeded in the end, to his eternal frustration.

James chuckled. “It did give you a good excuse to feel Mia up.”

Rolling his eyes, Sirius huffed. “For the millionth time, Prongs, I didn’t feel Mia up… well, not that time, at least. And I don’t need excuses to do that these days, anyway. She’s my girlfriend.”

“That’s a valid point, mate,” James gave him.

Sirius coughed. “Speaking of valid points…” he said, waving his wand at the door and closing it as he used his other hand to remove something from his pocket. He placed what revealed itself to be a little velvet box on top of the table and opened it to show a ring. “What do you think?”

“I’m sorry to disappoint you, mate, but I am very happily married,” James joked.

He groaned. “It’s for Mia, you bloody idiot! Quit joking around and help me out here – I don’t think I’ve ever been this nervous in my life!”

Instead of talking, James stared at his best friend for a few seconds before he burst into laughter.

Seeing that maybe that wasn’t the perfect occasion for that, James bit his inner lip trying to stop laughing. “I’m sorry. It’s just that… you are nervous about asking Mia to marry you! That’s ridiculous!”

“Ridiculous? You were shaking like a little girl when you asked Lily!” he countered.

“Well, yeah. But keep in mind that Lily had a history of hatred for me,” James replied in an obvious tone. “Plus, we weren’t dating for as long as you and Mia. That made the odds of Lily saying ‘no’ because it was too soon of something a lot higher than Mia ever rejecting you.”

He had to admit his best friend had a point there. Sirius had been thinking of asking Mia for a while but it had only been two days ago that he had gotten the courage to walk into a jewellery and get the ring. But, of course, the ring had brought a considerable dose of nerves along… “You think she’s really going like it?”

James rolled his eyes. “I’ll eat my foot if she doesn’t. You don’t have any reason to be nervous. When are you gonna pop the question?”

“I was thinking of tonight when we get home,” Sirius said.

“Good. But, after she says ‘yes’, make sure you don’t set the date before I arrange things with Dumbledore so Lily and I can go to the wedding. That’s definitely something I don’t want to miss,” James warned him. “Oh, and by the way, Mia and I sort of made an arrangement back in fifth year that I’d be your best-man if you ever ended up getting married. You’d better honour it?”

Sirius raised an eyebrow. “You talked to Mia about us getting married back in fifth year?! And she agreed to make you my best man?”

James shrugged. “She didn’t really say ‘yes’, but she didn’t say ‘no’ either. Just go ahead and ask her. It’s taken you long enough.”

---

Mia sighed as Sirius came from behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, planting a kiss on her neck moments after they arrived to their apartment. She turned around in order to face him and saw him smiling down at her. “You’re in awfully good mood now, aren’t you?” she asked with an eyebrow raised.

“Yes, I am,” he confirmed. All the nervousness seemed to have faded after his conversation with James had made him realize that she would most likely say yes. Instead, he felt anxious to ask her now.

“Do I want to know why?” she asked suspiciously. For all Mia, he and James might have been planning to build some other deadly flying thing, which definitely wouldn’t lead her to share his mood. But, for her relief, he nodded.

“I think you do,” Sirius told her. There was something about her for the past week that made her seem even more beautiful to him than she usually did – some sort of glow. He caressed one of her cheeks with his hand and took one step closer, planting a kiss on her lips.

Mia raised her arms and wrapped them around his neck, pulling him closer and deepening the kiss. That kiss made her feel like they were back in Hogwarts just being in love – there was no war, no death… just them. Ever since their magnificent weekend in Paris about a month before, they had barely had time to enjoy moments like that between work and fighting for the Order and when they did, now included, she always wondered if that would be the last…

She sighed against his lips when they broke apart. “I love it when you do that,” Mia told him.

Sirius grinned and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I know,” he replied. “Now, I need to tell you something.”

“Is it about what is putting you in such a good mood?”

He nodded, grabbing her hand and leading her to the sofa. He knew now was the best moment … the perfect moment. Another step into their future together.

After they sat on the sofa, Mia looked at him expectantly, wondering what was coming. She didn’t know why, but her heart was beating very fast – something told her that what was about to come was really important.

Sirius’s hand reached for his pocket and he was going to take the ring box out of it, when, suddenly, something tapped in the window. His head turned to look at the window and he saw an owl outside of it. Ruddy bird!

“I’ll get it,” Mia said quickly, getting up to reach the window. She just wanted to get rid of the bird and get back to Sirius. Nevertheless, in the moment she looked at the little note that the owl had brought, Mia saw that might take longer than she expected. “It says ‘urgent’,” she told her boyfriend, returning to the sofa.

He groaned. It couldn’t be Dumbledore summoning them to a battle, could it? He usually just floo call them. “Read it out loud.”

Mia opened the note and cleared her throat before reading. “Floo to Minerva’s office, I’ve already made the arrangements,” she read. But when she saw the next sentence, she froze.

“Mia, what is it?” Sirius asked.

Silently and with a grim look on her face, Mia passed him the note. Sirius immediately understood what had gotten into her. “Amelia is in danger. Hurry! Albus Dumbledore.” His first instinct was to do exactly what the note said. Without saying a word, Sirius grabbed his girlfriend by the arm and lead her to the fireplace from where he flooed her to their old school as fast as he could.

McGonagall’s office was badly lit. Dumbledore was sitting by the professor’s desk, while she stood by the fireplace already in her night clothes, seemingly waiting for them to arrive. Her face was covered with relief when she first laid eyes on them.

“Oh, thank goodness we were in time,” the old teacher said. “Are you alright, did they get to you?”

“Did who got to us?” Sirius asked her wrapping on arm protectively around Mia. “What is going on?”

Dumbledore coughed, causing the three to turn to him. “Amelia, why don’t you and Sirius take a seat?”

Mia’s breath caught at his tone as Sirius silently lead her to a chair in front of the desk. After she was settled on it, he sat on another chair at her right.

The old man took a deep breath before speaking. “I’m sorry to inform you, Amelia, that your parents were killed hours ago.”

She didn’t react. In fact, she barely felt anything. Mia couldn’t feel anything more than she would if it had been someone she didn’t know who had died instead of her parents. It was horrible but it was the truth – Susan and Phillip Davis were nothing but strangers to her. “How?” she simply asked in a relatively normal tone.

“Death Eater attack,” Dumbledore told her. “In fact, Lord Voldemort sent us a warning about the attack but we were too late. I assume it was his way of sending the Order a message.”

Sirius coughed. “But what about Mia?” he asked. “You said she was in danger in your message.”

The old professor nodded. “The message didn’t say that it was specifically Susan and Philip that were marked to die,” he explained. “I believe the words were ‘The Davises will die’. Amelia is a Davis too, Sirius. It wouldn’t be the first time he vanished a whole family.”

“The McKinnons,” Mia whispered, covering her mouth as tears ran down her face. “They want to kill me like they killed Marlene, Gabriel and all their family,” she choked out.

“What are we going to do?” Sirius asked, letting his girlfriend burry her face against his neck as she cried. Seeing Mia cry was something he absolutely hated – she rarely did it but when she did, he couldn’t help feeling like he was in pain too. “I won’t let her die, we have to save her!”

“I’ve already made the arrangements to protect her,” Dumbledore informed him before turning to her. “Amelia, you’ll have to go into hiding. I found you a safe place where you can go and be protected while you need.”

“What about Sirius, he’ll come with me, won’t he?” Mia asked, turning her face to him. She needed Sirius with her. The simple idea of staying away from him was painful by itself.

“I’m afraid he can’t,” Dumbledore answered sadly. “He is an important member of the Order and it would be too suspicious if he left suddenly. Your departure should be as discrete as possible. If you go, you can’t contact anybody here. I or Minerva will contact you when it is necessary,” he continued.

Mia shook her head. “I’m not going. Not if Sirius has to stay. You don’t even know if they wanted to kill me too. I’ll be careful…”

“No. You have to go, Mia,” Sirius told her, grabbing her by her shoulders and looking her in the eyes. “As careful as you and I try to be, if you stay here Voldemort will get you if that’s what he wants to do!”

She kept shaking her head, sobbing. “I can’t! I don’t want to stay away from you, Sirius!” she said.

“I don’t want that either,” he told her. “But I would rather have you far away than dead!” Sirius loved her too much to dare risking her life.

“I don’t want to go,” she whispered in tears.

He couldn’t help himself any longer and pulled her as close as he could. It felt like his worst nightmare was coming true… “You have to go. I need you to stay alive for me. This is not forever. I promise you.”

From their spots, McGonagall and Dumbledore watched the heat-breaking scene before the headmaster had to step in again. “Amelia, I need you to make the decision. The longer we take the worse.”

Sirius looked at her. “Please,Mia…” he whispered.

She didn’t want to go, but knew she had to. She took a deep breath and turned to the headmaster. “I’m going.”

Dumbledore nodded before getting up. “Very well,” he said in a faint tone. “I will arrange a portkey to leave in ten minutes, so, please don’t take long. Minerva and I will give you some privacy.”

The two teachers left the office silently, leaving Sirius and Mia inside alone.

“This is not forever, Mia,” Sirius whispered to her, resting his hand on her cheek. “You’ll see it will be over in a few weeks.”

“What if it doesn’t?” she asked in tears.

“Then we will wait,” he told her surely. “I promise you we will be together again, Mia. Even if it is the last thing I do. I swear on everything that is must dear to me that I will never, ever forget about us. Do you believe me?”

Mia nodded silently. “Why did this have to happen, Sirius?”

“I don’t know,” he answered, leaning closer to her and pulling her into a tight hug. Things hadn’t turned out the way he had planned at all. He had imagined that by this time they would be celebrating their engagement, not saying their goodbyes. “Maybe this is the universe’s way of testing us.”

She sighed and held on to him like the world would end if she stopped. Mia didn’t want to let go. She didn’t want to leave. “I love you,” she declared. “I love you so much, Sirius. I need you.”

He pulled back just enough to look her in the eyes. “I love you too, my Mia. I always did and I always will. Promise me you will be alright.”

“How, Sirius?” she asked in despair.

“You have to try, Mia. I need you to be alright,” he told her. It was like part of him was leaving with her.

“All I can promise is that I will try,” Mia said, glancing at the clock on the wall. “It’s almost time.”

Without another word, Sirius pulled her to a last kiss. It felt like a farewell all over but he knew he would have regretted forever if he hadn’t shared one last kiss with her. Their foreheads rested against each other after they broke apart. “You have to go,” he whispered with his eyes closed.

“I know,” she replied, pulling away.

She immediately felt at loss in the moment they stopped touching, but when she felt her feet leaving the floor as the portkey left, that feeling multiplied by millions. At least she had been able to say goodbye to him. The same couldn’t be said about Lulu, Lily, James, little Harry and her other friends.

“Where are we?” Mia asked the headmaster seconds after they landed.

“In Montreal, Canada.”

---

One month and a half later

Mia missed her family, her friends, Sirius… Every time she turned on her muggle TV, she saw news concerning the mysterious wave of deaths back in Britain and worried that he was among them.

Work had been the only thing to keep her sane lately. Dumbledore had gotten her a job in St. Bastian’s, Montreal’s equivalent to St. Mungo’s and there she worked as many shifts as she could. She would feel exhausted most of the time but it was worth being able to spend that time thinking of how wrong her life was right now.

But everything had come crashing down to that day. One moment she was healing an old lady who had broke her hip, the other everything was black. Next thing she knew, Mia was in a Hospital bed staring up at the ceiling.

“I zink shee is waking up,” someone who Mia recognized to be one of the nurses said in a deep French accent. “Ameelia. Can you eer me?”

“Yes,” she whispered. “What happened?”

“You fainted,” someone else said. Mia looked at the source of the voice to see one of her supervisors standing there. “You got yourself dehydrated. What were you thinking? Working at this rhythm in your condition?”

“Condition?” Mia asked in confusion. She didn’t recall having any condition, apart from an empty heart.

“When was the last time you had your period?” the healer asked her.

That was a good question. “I… hum… I haven’t really been keeping track of it,” Mia admitted. “I’ve been preoccupied. Before I started to work here, I guess.”

“You have been working heer for more zan a month,” the nurse told her. “Zat feets into ze diagnose.”

“What… what diagnose?” she inquired, feeling sort of numb. Was she dying? Because sometimes she did feel like she was.

The healer sighed. “You’re pregnant, Amelia.”

THE END (not so much...)

A/N: SEQUEL POSTED - "Brave New World". But don't jump right into it... It's been a long ride and, well, I'd like to thank all my readers and reviews because you were great - let's hope you'll still be great with the sequel. Now, how about you tell me what you thought about this fic overall?